Higher education

18 Nov 2010

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Short description of the higher education system

Turkey currently has 94 state universities and 44 private universities. The language of education is usually Turkish. At some universities, such as the Boðaziçi Üniversitesi, the Orta Dogu Teknik Üniversitesi and the Bilkent Üniversitesi, English is the language of instruction. There are also universities that offer certain programmes in English or as bilingual programmes. Very occasionally, programmes are offered in German or French. The academic year consists of two semesters, and runs from September until June.

The Ministry of National Education is responsible for all types of education except higher education, which falls under the Yükseköğretim Kurulu (the Council for Higher Education, YÖK), the body responsible for planning, coordinating and setting policy for higher education. The YÖK is authorized to perform a number of important tasks, including negotiating university budgets with the Ministry of Finance, fixing the number of students that may be admitted to higher education in consultation with the universities, setting basic curricular requirements for bachelor’s programmes and appointing faculty heads. The YÖK is also responsible for the supervision of private universities and accreditation of their programmes. Private institutions are permitted in Turkey but only on a non-profit basis. Even so, the tuition costs at these institutions are very high compared to those at state universities.

The higher education system is under enormous pressure. Capacity has increased somewhat thanks to the establishment of 44 private universities since 1984, yet the majority of students still attend state universities. Because there are many more candidates than available places, admission is very selective, with the number of successful candidates at around 33%.
 

Types of degrees

Candidates applying for admission to a Turkish university must take a competitive, national, written entrance examination, the Ögrenci Secme Sinavi (Student Selection Examination, ÖSS). Students need a Lise Diplomasi from a technical or general secondary lyceum in order to take the examination. Their score on this exam and their average secondary school grade determine whether they are selected for university admission.

Higher education in Turkey is a unified system, with no distinction between higher professional education and academic education. For this reason, some university programmes are more comparable to higher professional education in the Netherlands. However, there are also institutions that provide short professional programmes. Graduates of nominal four-year university programmes (with a maximum length of seven years) are awarded the Lisans Diplomasi. Graduates may also be awarded the Lisans Geçici Mezuniyet Belgesi, or “provisional Lisans certificate”. Universities where English is the language of instruction award bachelor’s degrees.

  • Ön Lisans Diplomasi (associate degree): conferred on completion of a two-year technical or professional programme at a Meslek Yüksek Okulu (School for Higher Professional Education). After completing the Dikey Geçiş Sinavi (Vertical Transfer Examination) students are admitted to the third year of a nominal four-year Lisans Diplomasi university programme. An Ön Lisans Diplomasi (associate degree) is comparable to two years of Dutch higher professional education in a similar specialization.
  • Lisans Diplomasi: conferred following a nominal four-year programme and comparable to a university or professional bachelor's degree in the Netherlands, depending on the type of study.
  • Lise Diplomasi: conferred following a nominal five-year programme and comparable to at least a university bachelor’s degree in the Netherlands in a similar specialization.
  • Ihtýsas Sertifikasi (certificate of specialization): conferred following a one-year programme after the Lisans Diplomasi. This programme does not fall under the jurisdiction of the YÖK and therefore it does not award an academic title, yet it is accepted by Turkish industry as an advanced qualification. An Ihtisas Sertifikasi is at least comparable to a university bachelor’s degree in the Netherlands.
  • Yüksek Lisans Diplomasi (Higher Licentiate Diploma) follows a Lisans Diplomasi and includes two types of programmes: those with a final paper, and those without. The programmes with a final paper take two years; those without take one and a half years. A Yüksek Lisans Diplomasi is comparable to a university or professional master’s degree in the Netherlands, depending on the type of study.
  • Bilim Uzmanlýgi Diplomasi: a specific equivalent to the Yüksek Lisans Diplomasi. This is a specialist diploma in the natural sciences that is also awarded after a nominal two-year postgraduate course in the sciences.
  • Doktora Diplomasi: programmes that take between two and five years to complete, and consist of coursework, completion of a qualification exam and writing and publicly defending a doctoral thesis. In general, the Yüksek Lisans Diplomasi is the admission requirement for PhD programmes. Students who perform exceptionally well in Lisans Diplomasi programmes may be admitted directly to a PhD programme, with the extra requirement of additional preparatory classes.

Quality assurance and accreditation

In 2002, the Inter-university Commission started drafting regulations for academic assessment and quality control. All higher education degree programmes will be subject to assessment. A committee set up for this purpose is laying down the basic guidelines for self-assessment by these programmes, which will ultimately lead to a national accreditation system. Universities are established by law, and all state and private universities as well as all degree programmes must be recognized centrally by the YÖK.
 

Recent reforms

Since 2002, graduates from a vocational high school (Meslek Lise) have been able to enrol in a two-year Meslek Yüksek Okulu (Higher Vocational School) programme without completing the ÖSS. This programme awards the Önlisans Diplomasi, which grants admission to the third year of a Lisans programme following completion of the Vertical Transfer Examination (Dikey Geçiş Sinavi).

Turkey is in the process of implementing the Bologna structure. Information on the current situation can be found on the official website of the Bologna Secretariat. In 2004 Turkey signed the Lisbon Convention , which it ratified in 2007. Turkey also joined the Erasmus programme of the European Commission in 2003 by virtue of its candidacy status for EU membership.

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